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Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

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Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#141

Post by lovich »

refulgentis wrote: post #69
lovich wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You got flagged, but yea that’s crazy. I don’t make faang money but make like 60% and I still could only safely take off 8 months after having saved up for years. Being able to take off a year to recover from burnout, without dealing with the stress of having no income for a year, means you are probably post money if not close. If that’s the case and the OP has interests like they listed, just start a company doing s…

You can get 1/2 a year just from short term disability from burnout at FAANG

A few years at a FAANG is pretty much post money unless you burned it all

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#142

Post by rrgok »

badpun wrote: post #51
sieabahlpark wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I'm sure everyone can be unemployed for a year straight and live out of their car. That sounds completely reasonable and not absolutely, in any way, privileged or insane.

The fact that the right solution is not accessible to everyone does not make it less right. If a specific cure for cancer costs say $20k per month, not everyone can buy it - but it doesn't not make it inefficient cure for cancer.

To be pedantic, your parent didn't say anything about right or wrong. It is irrelevant the correctness of a solution if you cannot implement it. Taking one year off is not a solution (even tough it is a right solution) for a lot people.

The same for the cancer's cure. It is not a solution for a lot people.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#143

Post by the_gastropod »

BizarreByte wrote: post #135
the_gastropod wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re working as a software engineer, you are already privileged, yes. It’s trivially easy, when making an average software engineer salary to save a significant portion of your income. If you save 50%, you need to work 1 year to save enough for a year off.

A lot of us aren’t making average HN level salaries and many have a lot of responsibilities. Saving 50% simply isn’t feasible for most people, even in this industry. It is not “trivially easy” to take a year off. It’s reckless.

Everyone's situation is unique. For many, it may not be easy at all—you're right. But in the "average" case of the average software engineer in the US, if you value the option to take a year off, it is absolutely trivial to save half your income.

Let's just do some back-of-napkin math to prove my point. The average American software engineer makes $110,944 / year [1]. The median salary in the US is $54,132 / year [2]. That's less than half an average software engineer. In other words, most Americans—even if they spend every penny they earn—live on less than half of what an average software engineer makes.

So yes. On average, a software engineer should be able to save half their income and take off a year. Or hell, save 33% of their income, and take a year off after working two!

[1] https://www.indeed.com/career/software-engineer/salaries

[2] https://www.firstrepublic.com/insights-education/how-much-do...

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#144

Post by choudharism »

janussunaj wrote: post #2

(OP here) I wanted to avoid a wall of text, so I'll elaborate here on where I'm coming from. My complaints with FAANG have to do with perverse incentives that reward nonsensical decisions, poorly thought-out and over-engineered projects, grandiose documents, duplication of work, selective reporting of metrics, etc. The few times I had a really good manager, a sane environment, and fulfilling work only lasted until th…

Hey OP - I think I have been where you are a couple of times in my career. For me, taking time off has been the answer, optionally structured as a cold-turkey break for a month (travel / pick up a hobby / learn something completely new / do nothing at all), followed by easing into the new set of work things you "want to" worry about. That may or may not be ML or ML-adjacent, I've always believed that smart people find a way.

On the other hand, after you've dealt with your current state of mind, I'd love to have a chat with you because I see that we share some passions and I'm building something new in the AI space to help people build sane ML pipelines!

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#147

Post by RangerScience »

janussunaj wrote: post #2

(OP here) I wanted to avoid a wall of text, so I'll elaborate here on where I'm coming from. My complaints with FAANG have to do with perverse incentives that reward nonsensical decisions, poorly thought-out and over-engineered projects, grandiose documents, duplication of work, selective reporting of metrics, etc. The few times I had a really good manager, a sane environment, and fulfilling work only lasted until th…

> reorg

I came across an interesting legal concept a couple of jobs ago - "quit for cause". Among other things, changes in management structure can meet the requirements "for cause'.

If you've got the pull in negotiation, it might be worth looking into adding something a quit-b/c-reorg cushion.

(I don't expect it to help with many things here, but there's worth in setting things up so you don't need a situation to stay a certain way, because you're safe to exit)

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#148

Post by ttymck »

marhee wrote: post #115

Better a small boss than a big servant, right? (Chinese proverb I believe) No need to hesitate - you've worked 10 years in FAANG, you'll get 10 jobs offers per month if needed. So, just do it. But remember, freedom is responsibility. So, have fun while doing 3 or 4 projects of your list. Switch between them to keep it light and fun. If you get depressed or if you start to just consuming full-time (gaming, Netflix, sl…

> No need to hesitate - you've worked 10 years in FAANG, you'll get 10 jobs offers per month if needed. So, just do it.

Are you certain this is sound advice at the current time? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34725047

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#149

Post by shortcake27 »

lovich wrote: post #49
sieabahlpark wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I'm sure everyone can be unemployed for a year straight and live out of their car. That sounds completely reasonable and not absolutely, in any way, privileged or insane.

You got flagged, but yea that’s crazy. I don’t make faang money but make like 60% and I still could only safely take off 8 months after having saved up for years. Being able to take off a year to recover from burnout, without dealing with the stress of having no income for a year, means you are probably post money if not close. If that’s the case and the OP has interests like they listed, just start a company doing s…

My car cost under $3k and my only expenses are food and car related stuff. DOC campsite pass for $195 for an entire year. It is insanely cheap to live out of a car. Not really sure why people are losing their mind over this.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#150

Post by shortcake27 »

sieabahlpark wrote: post #42
shortcake27 wrote: post #18

When it comes to burnout, the general advice I received is take minimum 1 year off work. I left my job a few months ago as the burnout got so bad I wasn’t able to conjure up the motivation to tackle the simplest of tasks. First couple months I didn’t feel any better and I was getting worried. But I’m _just_ starting to feel better now. I’m finding myself more positive and less stressed. So what am I doing? I’m living…

Yeah I'm sure everyone can be unemployed for a year straight and live out of their car. That sounds completely reasonable and not absolutely, in any way, privileged or insane.

It is unfathomable to me that you believe living out of a car is privileged. I sleep on a camping mat that’s hard as a rock. I pissed in a bottle last night. My car cost under $3k and campsites are virtually free using DOC pass.

Which part exactly of this is privileged?

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